CEIRR Annual Network Meeting 2025

The 4th Annual CEIRR Network Meeting brought together CEIRR researchers from May 27th to May 30th, 2025, at The Georgia Center in Athens, GA. Hosted by the Center for Influenza Disease and Emergence Research (CIDER) at the University of Georgia, this year’s event convened CEIRR-funded investigators to exchange their latest scientific findings and foster new collaborations in the study of influenza and other emerging respiratory pathogens.

CEIRR Center Coordinators and NIAID leaders attending the 4th Annual CEIRR Network Meeting.

The meeting opened on Tuesday, May 27th, with welcoming remarks from CIDER principal investigators Dr. Mark Tompkins and Dr. Pej Rohani, followed by a virtual address from Dr. John Beigel, Acting Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID). Over the course of the meeting, 45 speakers shared their research across seven dynamic sessions, which explored a broad spectrum of topics including immunity, transmission, breadth of protection, immunology, surveillance, viral evolution, virology, and H5/risk assessment.

To encourage deeper exploration of specialized topics, several breakout sessions were held. These featured in-depth conversations on modeling tools and training resources; domestic and wild animal surveillance in viral risk assessment; phylodynamics and phenotypic characterization in viral risk assessment; data management; communications; and mechanistic modeling. CEIRR researchers presented more than 160 posters and delivered 40 flash talks across six topic areas. Attendees voted for the best poster in each category, with first-place honors awarded to:

Immunity, Transmission, Breadth of Protection - (TIE) Sydney Gang (Penn-CEIRR) & Louis Taylor (CRIPT)
Immunology - Giovana Zanella (Penn-CEIRR)
Surveillance - Celeste Snyder (Penn-CEIRR)
Viral Evolution - (TIE) Caroline Kikawa (Penn-CEIRR) & Gagandeep Singh (CRIPT)
Virology - Ahmed Elsayed (CRIPT)
H5/Risk Assessment - Konstantin Andreev (SJCEIRR)

The 4th Annual CEIRR Network Meeting was a resounding success, strengthening connections and advancing knowledge among CEIRR investigators dedicated to combating influenza and emerging pathogens. With anticipation already building, the community looks forward to next year’s network meeting, which will be hosted by Emory-CEIRR.